


A Swan on the Dancefloor, a Mills in the streets

by SQDrabbles



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dance, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:15:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26590480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SQDrabbles/pseuds/SQDrabbles
Summary: story inspired by anoblebattle's "Your Move".Two ladies sign up for a dance gala. And despite coming from different dance background, they come to realize they still know each other, despite years that passed.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 46
Collections: Swan Queen Supernova V: Forever Starstruck





	A Swan on the Dancefloor, a Mills in the streets

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Your Move [Protostar Art]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26221594) by [anoblebattle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anoblebattle/pseuds/anoblebattle). 



> Thank you anoblebattle for the lovely piece, always finding the mirroring similarities between Jennifer Morrison & Lana Parrilla.  
> Hope I did this piece justice!

The bar was not packed as it usually was on a Friday evening. Customers rushed in and out, only getting a bite to go since there was construction blocking the entrance. Drinks were only ordered by those who lingered at the bar, and being it four in the afternoon, Graham easily finds a counter to sit at and grabs the menu. He always orders the same thing, but he still glances at the limited options offered, until his coworker shows up. The job they work at paid them enough to be able to eat out at a proper restaurant, but the bar was close to their office, and so he motions for two drinks from the bartender as Jones hops onto the seat next to him.

“A quick bite before we head back into the mayhem. I forgot what a mess the place was when there is an event.” Jones grumbles, his eyes roaming to the bartender, a leery grin on his face at her backside. Graham is tempted to smack him at the back of his head. He considered Jones as a work colleague only. Outside his job he didn’t think he’d tolerate the guy much. But he got the bills paid in time and made sure the coordinators got the items for an event on schedule.

“Did you hear that the boss is planning on making the dance showcase open for the public? It is going to be a paperwork hellhole.” Jones starts, nitpicking at the napkins. He pulls the plate of peanuts closer to their counter, and Graham ignores the voice in his head telling him how many germs are in that tray.

“But isn’t the dance set list already finalized? I thought we were done inviting dancers for the show.”

“Because the community are complaining, saying they didn’t get invitations, and how the show is all white women. They want to make it ‘inclusive’.” Jones snorts into his drink.

“Oh? Then you don’t mind if I join.” The bartender cuts in, slamming their orders onto the counter, with a look that has both men only nodding their head and forcing a smile as they jot her contact information in.

_Two Weeks Later_

“Ah, look at this crowd. They really outdid themselves this year. Oh, I see holly over there!” Cindy gushes, waving over to another brunette over the people at the entrance. Emma keeps walking past them, having already registered. She was amongst the top invitees and was able to bypass all the traffic and glide through. Her friends follow after her, commenting at each person they recognize, saying hello to some, and Emma ignores it all until she hears MM blurt out, “wow, they really set the standard low this year. Who let the riff-raff in?” 

Glancing at the cluster of women (and some men) lounging in the entrance hall, Emma comes across a ghost.

Taking deep breaths, Emma grips the door handle, straining to keep her breathing normal. She can hear her friend looking for her, and straightening up, she turns around and heads back into the room, avoiding looking at that certain corner. Catching up with Cindy and MM, they follow the crowd as the organizer announces for everyone to head to the main hall. The auditorium takes about 200 guests, and most seats fill up by the time a woman in a suit heads to the podium.

“Welcome, honorary guests, to the planning of the 37th Annual Hyperion Heights Gala! We are so glad that you all signed up to participate in this year’s showcase and can not wait to see your performances for this year, especially our main act, the talented Emma Swan!”

Emma gives her mega-watt smile, eyes lighting up as some of the crowd turn in their seats to applaud her. She looks a little bit embarrassed at the attention, but still nods in acknowledgement and gives a wave. The ghost doesn’t turn, but Emma could still feel her presence from rows away.

“Now then! This year we also have some new talent, and hope our constant performers give them a warm welcome and a hand around the stage!” The speaker goes on giving updates about the Gala, then breaks down the schedule. They have two weeks until the showcase to prepare their act, while they also prepare the tickets and seating arrangements.

Emma all the time stays fixed on watching the stage, not wanting to turn accidentally and catch her gaze with the ghost, even while she can feel the urge to turn and find her.

“Oh god, I hope some of the newbies at least know the basics and don’t embarrass us.” Cindy comments, eyes glued to her phone, and Emma pretends not to hear it.

“I’m sure they can dance if they’re in the showcase!” MM replies, reaching for the brochure being handed out. “and look, our old teacher is in the judges too!” she points to the name on the list, Emma mildly surprised to find the name on the list. They chat for awhile and Emma excuses herself, about having to practice early tomorrow. They collect their gala gift bags and head out, Emma flipping on her sunglasses and seeming oblivious to the awed whispers as she passes by the other performers, and enters her car.

Later, after a two hour practice session, when she fall into her bed, panting, does she allows herself to remember the ghost’s name.

_Regina._

***

_Emma._

She whispers it, remembering the taste of it. Then flinches when the blonde turns and heads the other way. She doesn’t know what she was expecting – maybe an awkward hello, a stiff acknowledgement, something – but definitely not an outright skip. She goes back to filling out the registration form, ignoring how her cheeks are burning up. She needed to control her temper; this wasn’t the place for a public display. Being the only one dressed in all leather, she already felt like she didn’t fit in, and usually she didn’t mind. But after years coming back to this, it started up the memories of those old days, and she can’t help but to feel the gap.

“You seem new at this joint, need a hand with that?” A perky voice asks. Glancing to her right, she comes in face with a woman in the shortest flashiest red shorts she has seen in her life, matching the red streaks of highlight in the woman’s hair.

“Yeah, you don’t want to fill that form in pencil, else they make you fill it again.” Biting her lower lip, she skims through the paperwork, grinning. “Regina? I’m Ruby.”

“It’s actually Roni.” She replies, but shakes Ruby’s hand, sensing no ill will from her. After years of working at a bar, she has a sense of figuring out what kind of people are standing in front of her, and who wants trouble. “Are you a regular at this gala?”

“Yeah, my gran is in charge of the clothes department, but I do also perform.” She wiggles her brows, a teasing lilt in her voice. The staff start to call for them to go to the main hall, and Ruby sits next to her during the speech, clapping each time another coordinator goes on stage. Her back is straight against the chair, frozen as she tries hard not to turn around and search for Emma. She knew the blonde was famous in the performative arts circles and found several clippings of her in the newspapers over the years. But it was different to see a stage filled with people gushing over her, naming her the main performance for the gala.

Afterwards, Ruby introduces her to the other ladies in the schedule, and she smiles and says hello, chuckling when they latch on to the fact that she is a bartender and has her own bar in town. She promises to treat them to drinks one time as her eyes scout the room to find the blonde at the exit, surrounded by only two people. And though people were hyping Emma up, she notices that no one is chatting with her after the speech. A complete difference from when Emma used to run up to the girls in class and talk to them about anything.

She wonders for the first time if there was a point in signing up for this.

Saying goodbye to the girls, she heads back to the bar, reaching right on time before they open for the night shift. She quickly throws her bag on the counter before preparing the drinks, forgetting for a moment about the dance as the customers start piling in.

Its only after, as they start to close, does the other bartender pick up one of the brochures, and asks her “You’re really signing up for this?”

She shrugs, not ready to talk about it. When she first signed up, she was pumped up at the idea of showing off to those high and fancy people. But now, seeing Emma in person…

“Mind showing me your dance for the audition?” the bartender smirks as the last customer leaves, tugging Roni closer to her.

“Honey, you know I don’t need an audition to win.” Roni hums, pulling the brochure out of the woman’s hand.

“I still don’t mind seeing a dance...” She murmurs, pulling Roni into a kiss. They lock up and leave the rest for later, as Roni takes the woman upstairs to her loft, thoughts of the gala and the blonde leaving her for a while.

***

The gala coincides with two other dance events, but Emma’s teacher promised that they won’t cause too much of a conflict with each other. After finishing meeting with the one of the organizers for one of the dance events, she heads off to the Gala one, scrolling through her phone as she listens to classical music.

She gets the phone call right before reaching the dance center. She let it ring two more times before picking it up, forcing her tone to be light. “Mom, hey. How’s it going?”

She listens as her mom starts chatting about the farmers market, and seeing her on the poster being distributed for the show, how she is so excited about seeing her in the showcase. Then she brings up the talk she was dreading to hear. “Honey, I think I saw Regina Mills’ name on the list. Do you remember her? You were so young but always sitting with each other at the practices. I’m surprised to see her name on the list, to be honest…

“I didn’t realize she was on the list, I didn’t see her.” The lies roll off easily, and her mom forgets about Regina and starts to discuss about the gala, Emma’s fingers tightening on the phone as she keeps promising her mother she’s going to perform perfectly as always.

***

The second meeting has Roni closing up the bar and heading in earlier than the announced meeting time, with a box of donuts. She didn’t think the performers would eat it, based on her previous experience in the academy, but she needed brownie points with the admin, and so she bellows out a good morning as she enters the hall, flourishing the donut boxes to the people as she places them on the table. She catches up with Ruby, going over the schedule for today’s rehearsal as the others start piling in. She looks around, but still doesn’t spot the blonde.

“I don’t see Emma Swan, is she not going to attend this rehearsal?” One of the girls asks out loud. The coordinator shakes her head, pointing to her clipboard. “Miss Swan has been here rehearsing the past two hours. You’ll find her on stage.”

The girls huddle against the stage entrance, looking on with awe as they see Emma dance across the stage, lost in her own music. Her steps are choreographed, not one step out of place, with her eyes closed as she moves. Roni stands in the back of the crowd, eyes glued to Emma’s movement. She can recognize some, but it was a vast difference from what she remembers.

As soon as the music ends, Emma is startled by the loud clapping she hears from the girls. She walks over to them, panting with sweat dripping down her face and clothes, as she accepts the water bottle and smiles at the girl’s enthusiastic comments. Roni ditches the crowd circling the blonde and heads off to save a seat next to Ruby as the meeting starts.

***

“Now then, we’ll give you a few minutes to catch up on registration details and your schedule before splitting you amongst your practicing groups.” The coordinator informs them after the founder’s speech. They head outside the auditorium to the main hall, where there are tables prepared with snacks and coffee. Roni heads to the table that has her donut boxes, sighing as she spots that none of them have been eaten. Her eyes glance to the tray besides the donuts, biting her lip at the selection of fruit tarts. They really had them set up fancy here, she muses to herself as she reaches for one..

“You still go for the strawberry ones.” A voice to her right. She turns to see Emma, in a new set of clothes, hair freshly washed. The woman probably had her own room upstairs.

“Do I know you?” Roni starts, ignoring the confused look the blonde gives her.

“It’s – uh, aren’t you Regina? We used to be in the same dance academy…”

“Really? So you do recognize me? Funny, I thought we did cross paths before and you didn’t know me..” Roni smiles, while she stabs a pastry with a fork.

“I – well, you got to give me some credit, you don’t look how I expected to find you, years later – ”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Roni gives a pointed look, pastry in hand. She thought the blonde would make up an excuse, smile and laugh it off, but she just looks her in the eye as she replies. “Nothing. Just lots of leather for someone who used to wear only dresses every day.”

“Yeah, well, things change. If you kept in touch, maybe you would’ve known.” Roni hisses, lowering her voice as she becomes aware that other people are turning to look at them.

Emma ignores her comment, picking up a cup and placing it in the coffee machine. “The organizers told me how you registered. Why did you even sign up for this? Do you still even dance?”

“Oh, because only those who go to some high-class school can dance, is that it?” Roni bites back, ignoring how the slam of her hand on the table has a few pastries falling to the ground. Emma glances with a raised eyebrow, but just picks up her coffee and walks off, calling over her shoulder. “Try not to drop stuff during the Gala performance as well.”

***

Only a few days left to go, and the dancers are well used to their routine, only needing to tune out the timing between each dance. The coordinator announces that for today, the performers are to go easy with their rehearsals, and take it as a relaxing day at the studio. MM laughs as Roni mentions it is also Throwback Thursday, and starts to play an old pop band song from her phone. The women squeal, though those in their late teens just watch on confused as the older women start to sing along to the song. MM is especially confused why Emma seems suddenly frustrated as Roni starts to dance to the song.

“She is doing my fucking dance moves. That was my part in our dance…” Emma grumbles under her breath. MM looks at her, shocked to find Emma swearing. The blonde never, ever swore. She is even more surprised when the blonde walks on over to Roni and starts to dance alongside her, each move done in a sync but in a more professional stature. The other girls stop practicing and watch as Emma and Roni compete to a Backstreet Boys song. Roni doesn’t seem to mind, even grinning as Emma dances with her. And though Emma dances in tune, she can’t seem to match Roni’s freestyle curves and twirls, and it gets heated to the point that they don’t realize the music changed to another song until MM calls out to Emma. Panting, they both relax their stances, but don’t say anything, just a furtive look at each other before each move to a different area in the room.

Roni can still feel the tingles afterward, of dancing with the blonde again. She fucks Kathryn hard and rough that night, making the woman come again and again, to Backstreet Boys playing in the background.

***

“Oh my god, guys, you won’t believe what I found out!” MM whispers to Emma and Cindy, motioning them to come closer. As it was the morning of rehearsal, the other women could still hear her, and pretended not to be listening on them.

“Last night at dinner my dad pointed out the names on the list, and he recognized Ron—Regina.” MM starts, this time not even whispering as she continues, “apparently her parents were famous for a huge scandal, that led them to be bankrupt and kicked out of so many committees. The father even l—”

“That’s enough.” Emma says with standing off, MM startled as she steps backward at the sudden movement of the blonde. The others have the decency to look embarrassed as Emma’s eyes glances upon each person near them, then heads off, grateful that Regina wasn’t there to hear them.

She has the sudden urge to smoke. Surprised by the thought – it’s been years since she had one – she heads outside for fresh air. She didn’t want to believe what MM was saying, but it made sense. She remembers Regina, sitting and chatting with her at every rehearsal, making up their own dance routine, even sneaking out from class one time to get ice-cream. And then the girl disappeared, stopped attending the recitals and practice sessions. She had asked her parents about her, but they only told her that she wasn’t to see her again. She remembers feeling sad, abandoned by the only friend she had made, followed by the increased pressure to perfect her dance moves, her fears of her adoptive parents giving her away at the slightest disappointment crowding her thoughts.

The fears are still there, though without any justification. She really didn’t think her parents would leave her now, but still..

“Ouch!” Her hand moves to cover her forehead at the sudden flick. She spots Regina there, -- or Roni, as the woman kept repeating – with a smirk on her face, fingers ready to flick her again.

“What was that for?” Emma rubs at her forehead, still processing what happened.

“It seems you were overthinking, again.” Roni takes a seat next to her, leaning back into the bench. She was dressed in leather again, jacket revealing a tank top beneath it, and Emma wonders why she can’t stop glancing to it. She’s seen women in tank tops before, my god.

“I was not. I was just sitting..”

“Don’t bother. I could somehow always tell with you.” Roni shrugs nonchalantly, and they sit outside for awhile until they’re called in for rehearsals.

***

“Alright, excellent work people! I think we are ready for opening day!” The dance programmer tells them, then ends with a round of applause. The women are hyped up, chattering excitedly as some already start to head home to rest up. Ruby hangs back, talking with a few of the girls over their wardrobe, and Emma lets herself join in, laughing and feeling light for the first time since they started practicing.

“Let’s celebrate, drinks at my bar!” Roni calls out to the girls as she passes by, bag over her shoulder. She gives a brief look to Emma, smiling, “even you, Swan.” Emma finds herself liking being called that. She texts her agent that she’s taking the night off too. Lots of firsts tonight..

The ladies, amongst them Ruby and Cindy, follow the GPS location Roni sends them, and reach the bar to find Roni behind the counter, already setting up shots for them. The girls each reach for a glass, while Roni takes one shot glass and hands it to Emma with a raised brow. “Can you handle your drink?”

“Wanna bet?”

“I don’t think its smart to bet against a bartender, dear..”

Ruby groans, already tired of their bantering from rehearsals, and grabs MM’s hand to dance. The bar was empty, save for a few men and the ladies from rehearsal. Roni plays some of their favorite music and turns it on louder, while she takes a shot for each glass Emma drinks as well. It takes them only to reach the fourth shot to have Roni dragging Emma into the middle of the bar to dance with the others, grinding against her while Emma seems completely out of her element.

“Where did you learn to dance like that?” Emma gasps out as they sit down, visibly trying to catch her breath. Roni leans against the counter, smirking as she orders lighter drinks for them. For the past hour the women seemed to enjoy themselves, shrugging off jitters for the upcoming gala and just joking about the practices they had to go through. Roni watches on amusedly as Ruby obviously tries to flirt with MM.

“Not at a dance studio, that’s for sure. After..well, you know.” Roni shrugs, playing with her glass. “I didn’t have much chance to sign up to any other dance school. So I practiced where I could. And my mother and I had to move a lot, so anytime we uprooted I always found some club to dance at, and pick up a thing or two.”

Leaning over the counter to reach for the drinks, Emma notices the tattoo on Roni’s abs as her shirt rides up, how it seems to go from her lower stomach, all the way up to her chest…. “I can see that…” The blonde murmurs, shifting her eyes as her cheeks turn red.

“Hm?” Roni glances to Emma, not catching what she said. She shrugs it off when the blonde doesn’t reply, and clinks their drinks together. “To meeting each other again.”

“This needs a second drink then.” Emma laughs, a bit tipsy, probably few drinks than she was used to.

“Second? Did we meet at some other random dance competition?” Roni teases, noticing how Emma seemed to sway in her seat, and motions for her co-worker to get them water instead of drinks this time.

“Nooo.” Emma sighs sleepily, her arm motioning all around the bar. “I came here one time, silly. To see you.”

“…When?” Roni asks, thinking this is some kind of prank.

“Two years ago? I think you just had the place, your name showed up in the newspapers.”

“And you saw me?” Roni tries hard to remember meeting the blonde. She certainly would have. Maybe she wasn’t working that day?

“Yeah, I was going to come say hello, but you were kissing some lady.” Emma replies as she reaches for the glass of water, squinting. “Are those fishies swimming at the bottom?”

Roni just stares at the blonde sitting across from her, and reaches for her glass of water, tipping it over the blonde’s head.

“What the – Regina?!” Emma slurs out, jumping up from her seat as the water spills all over her.

“You should have told me.” Roni hisses, getting up and leaving the blonde’s sight. She tells Ruby to take the blonde home already, clearly drunk, and heads to the backroom, cleaning down plates and glasses, taking out her frustrations on them.

***

A day before the main event, and Roni was still not talking to Emma. The blonde didn’t remember much, only of waking up with a killing headache after the night out with the girls. She had quickly sobered up, trying to avoid being seen as anything less than professional at the rehearsal. Yet she still can’t recall why Roni was suddenly giving her the cold shoulder, not even bantering or teasing her as they used to during dance exercises. She chalks it up to Roni being over the excitement of seeing an old person from her life, and starts focusing on her own dance routine, ignoring the feeling in the pit of her stomach at the lack of interaction with Roni. 

***

Roni avoided Emma, even on the day before the main event. She didn’t know why, why she would be so reactive towards the blonde, despite having years since she last so her. So what if she dropped by her place? She didn’t owe the blonde anything, despite how close they became within the dance sessions.

Roni focuses on Kathryn instead, handing her two tickets to come see her at the gala. Kathryn points to her name of the list, nuzzling her neck as she whispers what prizes awaits Roni after the show. As much as she enjoys hearing the list, she tells Kathryn to not call her by the name written on the list. She never felt comfortable for her partners to call her by ‘Regina’, as the last person to call her that before she took on ‘Roni’, was Emma.

Kathryn stills in her teasing and lowers the tickets to the table counter. “I don’t think I’m comfortable going, when it seems you clearly have your heart still set on someone else.” She leans in to brush a kiss against Roni’s cheek to ease the sting of her words, and heads back to work. Roni sighs, hands resting against the table, wondering how or when was she obvious, or if Kathryn is just good at figuring out her boss.

***

It’s the Gala day! And the entrance is lined up with security as they check in guests, media reports lining up to see who is attending the gala, and look, isn’t that Lana Parrilla over there?!

They nearly miss Emma Swan’s entrance, gliding to the doors in a golden studded long sleeve dress, glittering as she is captured by several camera flashes before she enters the hall. Accompanied by her parents, she waves to the guests she knows, chatting with them before she needs to set up in backstage. Her eyes keep looking for someone, and only relaxes when she sees Roni, dressed in a tuxedo suit, chatting with the guests as well. She seemed to be able to hold off her own, and only coms across her again during backstage, while the performers line up for their turn.

They smile tentatively at one another, each feeling the tension easing as they realize today is when they’ll perform in front of a real live audience.

“Are you ready?” Roni asks Emma, and the blonde smiles, fixing up her hair into a bun.

“Born ready.” She kids, before they wish each other good luck. Emma smiles at that, and heads onto the stage. Her dance is one she’s practiced the past two weeks, it comes to her like breathing, naturally springing into majestic jumps and twirls as she moves to the music, fingers and toes flexed downwards as she keeps a perfect posture to each dance move, not registering any of the audience until she reaches her final part, then straightens up and stays arched over her back in position for the audience to yell and clap as the music ends.

She gets a standing ovation at her performance and walks off the stage with a bow to the audience. The other dancers pat her back and congratulate her on her performance, clearing a path for her to sit and catch her breath, a water bottle passed to her. She focuses on breathing, the usual feeling of euphoria after each dance fills her lungs, and she can’t help but to let out a laugh, feeling she aced this dance.

The director comes over to congratulate and chat with her, and she says all the right things, until she hears MM gasps out loud, “She’s seriously taking a pole onto the stage..” Emma looks to see who is on stage, and find it is Roni – except without her suit. The woman was in a two set piece, dancing around a pole. She hears the Director let out a strangled gasp next to her, but she can’t take her eyes off Roni. The woman was actually carrying on, the blonde watching starstruck as Regina dances on the pole, how it doesn’t seem like a strip tease for Emma, but the first time seeing someone fully open about themselves and comfortable in their skin. Roni didn’t blink or grin at the audience, or bent herself in a suggestive position. She twirled around the pole, using it to lift herself higher and higher, showing more trust with her body that has taken Emma hours of practice to perfect. As she reaches the final part of the song, Roni mimics Emma’s stance, head arched back as she hangs onto the pole.

The audience is quiet for a moment, before it erupts into clapping, a few unabashed whistles as Roni bows and heads off the stage. Her performance expression only breaks character once shes past the curtain, and she gives a huge grin to the girls as they crowd her, yelling at why she didn’t tell them anything before about her act. Emma stands by the side, eyes trailing at the woman’s exposed body until she catches herself staring.

Roni makes her way to where Emma is standing, thanking Ruby for passing her the towel to wipe herself off.

“So, what do you think?” Roni asks Emma, all smiles but for a certain tone in her voice. She really wanted to know what the blonde thought but didn’t want it to be too obvious or high stakes.

“You were amazing. I’m impressed.” Emma comments, continuing when she sees how Roni lights up at that. “I admit I’m jealous at how you can seem so in tuned with your body. It took me years to practice that and I still don’t feel comfortable most days.”

Roni couldn’t help but to tease the woman at that, whispering in Emma’s ear, “It helps thinking of how the dance is when watched by someone. Of how it would be dancing knowing y o u were watching me.”

She doesn’t get to see Emma’s reaction at that as they’re swept into a hug by Ruby, then watch the rest of the performances before heading out to celebrate at Roni’s bar. This time more of the performers came with them, and not too soon the bar was picked with people. Roni kept the drinks flowing, treating everyone after a successful show. They flip the tables over to make room for the girls to dance, laughing the night off.

“Hey,” Roni feels a tug on her suit, turning to find Emma dancing beside her. She leans in to hear Emma, eyes darkening at the blonde’s question. This time Regina does dance only for Emma, taking her to the back room of the bar, locking the door and playing her own soft music as she strips to the song, letting Emma drink in the view before straddling her lap, performing the same dance before, but this time while riding the blonde’s fingers.

The next day, when Emma calls her, Roni tells her to call her ‘Regina’.


End file.
